This invention relates to the inspection of workpieces, and in particular it relates to inspection by electro-optical means.
After a workpiece, i.e. a part of an apparatus or device being manufactured has been worked upon by the tool of a machine tool such as a cutting machine, a milling machine, etc. it is necessary to inspect a condition of that machine to assure that the work was done accurately.
Commonly owned pending U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos.:
1. Electro-optical sensor systems for thread and hole inspection Ser. No. 64,867, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,688. PA0 2. Method and apparatus for electro-optically determining the dimension, attitude and location of objects: Ser. No. 34,278 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,804. PA0 3. Method and apparatus for determining physical characteristics of objects and object surfaces: Ser. No. 15,792 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,661. PA0 4. New photodetector array based optical measurements systems: Ser. No. 163,290, filed June 26, 1980. PA0 5. Electro-optical inspection: Ser. No. 73,226, now abandoned. PA0 6. Co-ordinate measuring method and device: Ser. No. 207,081, filed Nov. 14, 1980. PA0 7. Electro-optical surface roughness measurement and control: Ser. No. 240,459 filed Mar. 4, 1981. PA0 8. Electro-optical sensors with fiber optic bundles: Ser. No. 173,370, filed July 29, 1980. PA0 9. Apparatus for determining dimensions: Ser. No. 134,465, filed Mar. 20, 1980. PA0 10. High speed electro-optical inspection: Ser. No. 203,866 filed Nov. 4, 1980. PA0 11. Fiber optic based robot controls: Ser. No. 200,401, filed Oct. 24, 1980.
disclose useful, proven, electro-optical sensor units employing solid state photo detector arrays and other elements. The majority of such units sense the condition of the part without contacting the same by receiving light from the surface of the part onto a detector array comprised of a plurality of aligned light received diodes, usually scanned sequentially.
The sensor units described in said pending applications may have many different uses, for example: sensing threaded holes to ascertain the number of threads, the pitch, the depth, and the blind hold depth; the outer diameters and radii of parts; range and surface locations by triangulation; surface defects and flaws; surface roughness and optical bore gaging.
In accordance with the present state of the art the workpieces or parts are worked upon at one location and inspected at a subsequent location. This required the complexity and expense of separate work stations for tool working procedures and the inspection procedures.